Regina "Gina" Melcher
Regina "Gina" Melcher was a contestant on Season 9 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 13th place. Personality Gina was one of the shortest female contestants of Hell's Kitchen. She started relatively well, but went on a downward spiral very quickly. She had a dislike towards Elise, due to the latter's big mouth and disrespectful attitude. Season 9 Episode 1 When the chefs arrived in Los Angeles, they were greeted by James on the bus ride, and then, it pulled over to the Orpheum Theatre, Gina wondered what was going on as it was written "Live in person, Hell's Kitchen chefs!", and they learned that they would be given a standing ovation by a live audience. However, when the curtain was pulled up, they discovered that the room was completely empty - much to their disappointment - before Ramsay revealed himself applauding very slowly. After the latter revealed the grand prize of the season, the chefs were asked to get back to Hell's Kitchen and cook their signature dishes. During the Signature Dish Challenge, Gina wondered if Carrie was in her right mind when she put sugar in her mashed potatoes, she was the last person from the red team to have her dish judged by Ramsay and went up against Jason. She served her pan-roasted pistachio scallops with parsnip purée, which were deemed nice, but the scallops were burned on the top. She acknowledged her mistake, but reminded that it tasted nice, and lost the round to Jason. The red team lost the challenge 5-6, and they were punished by cleaning both kitchens for the opening night. During the punishment, Gina compared the kitchen to like a tornado went through it as there was no room for nothing because there were dishes everywhere. The next day, both teams went to the kitchens to begin prepping for the opening night, and they were given their ankle knives set. During dinner service, Gina was on the meat station with Krupa. She was not seen at all, and the red team won the service. Episode 2 The next morning, the chefs were woken up by a young guitarist and very loud amplifiers, and they were ordered to get outside. Arrived there, Ramsay introduced the Meat & Grill Challenge, where each pair would have to cook a medium-rare New York strip, a medium rib-eye, a medium-well filet mignon, and a well-done burger. During the challenge, Gina was paired with Elizabeth and Jennifer, they were the last pair to compete for the red team, and they only scored two points out of four, with their New York strip and burger. The red team lost the challenge 10-11, and they were punished by cleaning the grills, taking a delivery of a whole cow, and drinking a protein shake made from the meat used during the challenge. During the punishment, Gina described the texture of the protein shake as ungodly, and later, the women were prepping their kitchen while reviewing the menu. When the blue team came back from their reward, they studied it further. During dinner service, Gina was on the appetizer station with Jennifer. She was not seen much, except when she comforted Jennifer after the latter sent an unacceptable salad to the pass, and near the end, when she went over to the blue kitchen to complete their tickets, along with Carrie, Krupa, and Jamie. The red team won the service, and at elimination, they were asked for a volunteer to be transferred to the blue team the next morning. Episode 3 Back in the dorms, Gina was worried about Natalie and Jamie volunteering to be transferred to the blue team as both of them were strong, but in the end, the red team agreed on Carrie, which made everybody happy. The next morning, the chefs were woken up by clowns, and when both teams were lined up in the dining room, Sous Chef Scott revealed that they were woken up by clowns because they were cooking like clowns. After taking a delivery of naan bread with the other chefs, Gina and her teammates said goodbye to Natalie, who was transferred to the blue team instead of Carrie, much to her dismay as she knew the red team just lost a strong member. During the Mommy & Me Lunch Service Challenge, Gina was not seen at all, the red team lost the challenge, and they were punished by cleaning the dining room, prepping both kitchens for the Family Night dinner service, and setting up a playground for the children. The next day, during prep, the red team was completely silent as they wanted to avoid the drama. During the Family Night dinner service, Gina was an assistant maître d'. She was not seen much, but the tickets she delivered were accepted, and after a lot of mistakes, she was asked to bring all of her teammates in the dining room to apologize to the customers, before being kicked out of the kitchen. The red team lost the service by a mile. She was not nominated for elimination. Episode 4 The next morning, the chefs were woken up by Sous Chefs Scott and Andi, who brought them special farm outfits to wear, and were told to get outside. Arrived there, Ramsay introduced the Chicken Creation Challenge, and during the first part, Gina chose radish when she caught her chicken. During the second part, she was paired with Carrie, and they worked on the fried chicken course. She was annoyed when Carrie took out the basket from the fryer while asking her what she thought, and reminded her that it had to be done in the center. Moments later, it was revealed that their chicken was raw, so she ordered Carrie to put it in the oven, and when the dishes were plated, she was extremely embarrassed to work with a teammate that did not know what she was doing because the chicken was that raw. Before the judging, Gina revealed to Ramsay that hers and Carrie's chicken was raw, much to the blue team's amusement, and Ramsay was dismayed, asked why it was raw, and after she aggressively told Carrie to stop talking as she was, she revealed that Carrie did not cook it long enough in both the fryer and in the oven. They were the first pair from the red team to have their dish judged, she presented their fried chicken, but after she revealed that their chicken was extremely raw because she was paired with Carrie, she was told to get back in line by Ramsay, and they lost the round to Paul. The red team won the challenge 3-2, and they were rewarded with a go-kart activity at K1 Speed. During the reward, Gina was not seen at all, and she did not qualify for the final race. During dinner service, Gina was on the meat station. After the red team served all of their appetizers, they moved on to entrées, but she was caught slicing her New York strip despite Elise still needing seven minutes on her sea bass, much to Ramsay's dismay. She was sarcastically congratulated by him, and when she giggled about it, Ramsay asked her if it was funny, which she answered it was not, before adding that she wished she could disappear and get to a bubble bath and champagne. Later, she sent raw lamb for the chef's table, felt really bad about performing badly in front of Olympic medalists, and because of her mistake, the service was shut down. Both teams were named joint-losers, and they were asked to nominate two people each. Gina was not nominated for elimination, and when Ramsay asked who she would like more to be eliminated between Carrie and Elise, she voted for Elise. Episode 5 During the Fire and Water Challenge, Gina caught Krupa prepping the guinea hen she was working on. She was the fourth person from the red team to have her dish judged and went up against Tommy on the guinea hen round. She made a lightly poached guinea hen breast with mushrooms were praised for having a nice combination with the puree, and she won that round over Tommy. The red team eventually lost the challenge after a tie at 2, and they were punished by cleaning both the dorm hot tub and the front entrance fountain, along with prepping both kitchens for that night’s dinner service. During the punishment, she expressed surprise that they were opening that night. During dinner service, Gina was on the fish station with Carrie. At one point, she did not respond to Ramsay’s request for a time, and that caused confusion when she walked with the scallops when Krupa was not ready on the spaghetti. After Krupa sent up raw spaghetti, the former blamed her for messing her up, while Ramsay yelled at the two to communicate with each other as they had to start over. On entrées, she once again did not speak until Ramsay prompted her, and when she was about to walk her entrées, Elise complained that she did not have her garnishes ready, before accusing her of trying to throw her under the bus. Later, she wanted to walk her fish out, but Elise wanted another minute on her garnishes, leading to them bickering as Ramsay compared it to two cats fighting. Then, she sent up raw sea bass, with Ramsay angrily smashing the protein, and kicking her and Elise out of the kitchen. Back at the dorms, Elise blamed her for not communicating with her and throwing her under the bus. Both teams were named joint-losers and were asked to nominate two each. During deliberation, Gina was considered for elimination by Elise and Jennifer for not communicating that night, but she argued that everybody was guilty of lack of communication. Gina was not nominated for elimination, but Ramsay eliminated her for her disintegrating performances, and lack of voice. During her exit interview, Gina argued that Ramsay made the wrong decision and that Elise should have gone home instead. Ramsay's comment: "They say good things come in small packages. But unfortunately, in Gina's case, her talent matched her size: Tiny." Nomination history Trivia *She is the eighth contestant to be eliminated after Ramsay overruled the initial nominees, following Gabe (Season 2), Vinnie (Season 3), Sharon (Season 4), Colleen (Season 5), Jim (Season 6), Mikey (Season 7), and Curtis (Season 8). *She is the third contestant, and first female, who did not make it to the black jackets that was never nominated throughout her run on the show, following Jim (Season 6) and Salvatore (Season 7). *After her appearance on the show, she went back to her previous job, but currently works at Morimoto Maui. She got married and now go by Gina Melcher Haggerty. Quotes *(To Krupa) "Bitch, get off my guinea hen." *(After being eliminated) "I do think Chef Ramsay was wrong to let me go. He should've eliminated Elise, she's a big problem on the red team, but I absolutely will walk out of here with my head held high. I gave it everything that I had." External Links * * Category:Chef Category:Season 9 Category:New Jerseyans Category:No Nominations Category:13th Place